Thursday, July 10, 2008

Johan Bruyneel

Came to work yesterday to give a book talk. I bought the book on Monday night so he'd have something to sign, and started reading it yesterday morning...

The talk was interesting. Inspiring, actually. He's very real, very funny and as all team directors have interesting stories, he certainly has his share. We all got to ask him questions, which was the bulk of the talk, and I was really impressed to see him wearing his LiveStrong band. I have always worn mine, and even though folks sometimes give me grief about it, I still feel very strongly about it's message (it's my good-luck charm).

Some of the people at the talk yesterday clearly weren't cycling fanatics. Someone asked him if they'd known that Astana would not be invited to the Tour de France, would they have had different goals for the Tour of Italy (Giro). I had to bite my lip. I think winning the Giro with not much notice was pretty spectacular, but that's just me.

This has been a most excellent week. The Tour has been fun. I found a link to the Vaughter's f-bomb incident here. I've had stellar training rides (crushing 6 of my 8 peak power records), even in the heat, and I got to meet Johan Bruyneel. I even got this most excellent souvenir:


1 comment:

Lorachristine Vichich Ramsey said...

Hi Holly,
That's great! People can say what they want, but he has my respect. He was (and is) there for his team and stood by them, encouraged them and I can't imagine all the stress he has gone through running a team. It's sometimes stressful for me just signing in riders and running Wheel Support! I can't wait to read the book -- and he does have a great sense of humor. Oh and congrats on your power -- that's incredible Holly!!
All my best,